Air Guard crews gear up for newest combat jet

By late next year, Hawaii Air National Guard jet mechanics will start learning how to maintain the F-22 Raptor, the Air Force's newest and most lethal combat jet.

Lt. Col. Christopher "Frenchy" Faurot, Hawaii Air National Guard F-22 Integration Project officer, said the first of 20 single-seat F-22 Raptors -- the Air Force's most expensive jet fighter -- will arrive in June 2010. By then the first group of Hawaii Air Guard pilots will have completed four months of training on the mainland.

The $137 million jets will be flown and maintained by air crews belonging to the Hawaii Air National Guard's 199th Squadron and the active Air Force's 531st Squadron. It will be the only F-22 Raptor squadron in the Air Force led by the Air National Guard, Faurot said.

Traditionally, these type of units, like the C-17 Globemaster cargo jet squadron at Hickam Air Force Base, are 60 percent active Air Force crews and 40 percent Air National Guard personnel.

However, Hickam's new Raptor unit will be 75 percent Hawaii Air National Guard and 25 percent Air Force.

MIKE BURLEY / MBURLEY@STARBULLETIN.COM
Lt. Col. Christopher Faurot of the Hawaii Air National Guard's F-22 Program Integration Office watched yesterday as civilians and military personnel tested the Guard's new F-22 simulator.

The unit will be made up of 450 Hawaii Air National Guard pilots and technicians and another 100 from the Air Force. Of the 36 pilots assigned to the Raptor unit, 27 will be Hawaii Air National Guard officers and nine will be from the Air Force.

The 62-foot Raptor flies at 1.5 times the speed of sound and can lock onto an enemy fighter 40 miles away and take it out with a missile before the other aircraft's pilot realizes he has been targeted. Faurot, who has been flying F-15 jets for 15 years, said the Raptor's speed and stealth capabilities give his pilots "the first look, first shot, first kill" advantage.

The Air Force said 20 facilities at Hickam will be renovated or built over the next five years at a cost of $145.4 million to house 20 Raptors and their crews.

The Raptors will replace the F-15 Eagles that the Hawaii Air Guard has flown since 1987.

Sam Grizzle, Lockheed Martin Corp. spokesman, said the Raptor is a fifth-generation fighter that will eventually be joined by the F-35, now on the drawing board.

Jim Conlin, Lockheed Martin's F-22 director, said the Raptor was built primarily to be an air-to-air fighter while the F-35 Lightning joint strike fighter's main mission is air-to-ground strikes.